After the lesser demonic beasts that had invaded the city were defeated and the barrier that had overloaded and ceased functioning was rebooted by auxiliary power, the students who had been evacuating civilians in various locations recognized that their assigned tasks had come to an end. They temporarily gathered to rest and relieve their tired bodies.

“Huh, we made it through the big crisis, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, probably… I’ve got no strength left after running around all day.”

As they collectively sighed in relief, one male student, still holding onto his communicator during their break, received urgent news.

“…Eh?”

Seemingly frozen in time after hearing the news, the student soon called out to his class president, visibly flustered.

“Uh… hey, Mei, I just got some news…”

“…What? Why are you saying something so ridiculous with such a serious face? You should keep the jokes in check.”

Curious about what could have caused such panic, Mei, the class president of 1st Year Class A, approached the stuttering student and frowned as she spoke loudly.

It was because the student’s words were utterly absurd.

Moreover, the content was of an unpleasant nature that could hardly be dismissed as a joke.

Mei, already on edge due to her exhaustion, shot him a glare as if to say, “What are you doing?” but the student merely looked aggrieved as if he were simply relaying what he had heard.

Seeing that expression left Mei confused.

She couldn’t understand why the student was making such a face.

No matter how she thought about it, it had to be nonsensical.

Scarlet would never do that—

But at that moment, as if to contradict Mei’s thoughts, a voice started emanating from the communicator, which had suddenly lit up with a beep.

The message was this:

“Captain Yoon Si-woo has been incapacitated by the witch.”

“The identity of the witch, who has fled after defeating him, is.”

“Scarlet Evande, a first-year student of Aegis Academy.”

Perhaps due to the raised voices during the conversation, the attention of the other students was drawn to Mei and the male student, causing everyone to naturally hear the voice coming from the communicator.

“……”

A silence followed.

It was likely that they all couldn’t believe what they had just heard.

They had precious memories with Scarlet Evande.

Each of them had witnessed her being desperate to save others and readily sacrificing herself for them.

Additionally, the first-year students, having owed their lives to Scarlet when the witch had attacked the front lines, found it especially hard to associate her name with “witch.”

Thus, Mei shook her head in denial.

“There must be some mistake. Scarlet is a witch? That sweet girl could never do that.”

With faith in her friend, Mei glanced around at the other students, as if to say “You all think so too, right?”

Yet, her peers struggled to meet her gaze.

Seeing this, Mei murmured in disbelief.

“What’s with all of you…? Why don’t you trust Scarlet? How can that be? She’s the one who saved our lives! At the very least, as friends, we should believe in Scarlet!!”

“…Ugh, I want to believe too!!”

As Mei shouted, another student nearby, who had been watching her, yelled back.

That they wanted to believe too. That they also wanted to trust her.

However, with a confused look on his face, that student continued speaking.

“But, Captain Yoon Si-woo was defeated by Scarlet…! The Scarlet who was so close to him! The Scarlet I know would never harm a friend! And she’s been interrogated before, which makes me wonder if that’s all a façade… Could she have been deceiving us all this time…?”

“That’s…!”

Mei, who had intended to say something in response to the student’s outcry, found herself unable to speak.

Every point he made was valid.

Even Mei had been harboring similar thoughts.

It was then that Mei could finally comprehend why the other students avoided her gaze.

The actions she could hardly believe Scarlet capable of had dragged them all into confusion.

Everyone was bewildered.

Marin, Dwight.

Daniel, Andre.

And also—

“Captain Yoon Si-woo… was attacked by Scarlet…”

Jessie said it as well.

“Scarlet is a witch…? No, that can’t be… Scarlet is my friend… But then what of Captain Yoon Si-woo… If that’s the case, has she been deceiving us… If that turns out to be true…”

Jessie muttered, tugging at her hair, which had started to show strands of color from the stress of losing her family.

Ah, the warm friend Scarlet.

The Scarlet who had thrown herself to save Jessie from the lesser demonic beasts.

But Scarlet had also been interrogated and displayed peculiar behavior in front of the corpses of the lesser demonic beasts.

The Scarlet who had harmed Captain Yoon Si-woo, the hero who defeated the witch.

If such a Scarlet were indeed a witch…

“I need to confirm it…”

Jessie staggered as she got to her feet.

She then began to stumble forward.

Mei noticed the strange and ominous look in Jessie’s eyes as she suddenly stood up and attempted to step outside.

If she were allowed to walk away like that, something terrible was bound to happen.

Intuitively realizing this, Mei shouted in alarm.

“Hey, hey…! Someone stop her!”

The nearby students were startled but managed to grab Jessie as she looked back, confused.

“Why are you holding me…?”

“Well, it’s just… where are you suddenly trying to go?”

“I’m going to find Scarlet…”

Upon hearing Jessie’s intention to find Scarlet, Mei swallowed hard without realizing and asked.

“…What will you do once you find her?”

“I’ll ask her if she really is a witch, if she’s truly been deceiving us all this time. If it really is the case…”

Jessie, who had been murmuring in response, trailed off as she contemplated what she would actually want if it were true.

What would she do…?

While she was deep in thought, questioning her own feelings, suddenly…

“To all heroes. A new mission is being delivered.”

The sound of a beep echoed, followed by a voice sounding from the communicator.

“Locate the fleeing witch and surround her.”

“Given the nature of the opponent, combat must be avoided as much as possible.”

“If you can pinpoint her location to surround her, the captains will handle the fighting.”

“The ultimate goal is…”

“The witch’s elimination.”

Once again, a chilling silence fell upon the children.

In that stillness, Jessie faintly smiled.

Ping— The fireworks crackled and soared high into the sky.

While the darkening sky was adorned with the beauty of the fireworks, there was no luxury of time to enjoy them peacefully.

The arrow-shaped burst of fireworks was giving away the direction in which I was fleeing.

“There! The witch fled that way!!”

“Don’t let her escape! She’s the enemy of Captain Yoon Si-woo!!”

I could feel the heroes gathering around me, following the arrows.

Damn it, those damn fireworks again.

Muttering under my breath, I dodged again to avoid being surrounded.

I knew this wouldn’t entirely save me.

Even while exhaling a sigh, I refused to stop running.

How long had it been since I fled from where Yoon Si-woo was?

I felt the encircling net around me gradually tightening.

Having gained considerable physical ability after becoming a witch, I was managing to keep running away, but was it still not possible to escape from their concentrated attacks?

“Ah, there she is!”

Every time I got spotted by the people stationed everywhere, those pesky fireworks gave away my real-time position.

When I had fled through the sewers earlier, I hadn’t been lighting up my location with fireworks like that.

But once they figured out what I was doing, too many people were placed around the sewer, making it unusable now.

“Fireworks…! It’s over there!”

Hiding momentarily, I saw fireworks shoot up from a distance.

It was the distraction device I had set up ahead of time while I was escaping a while ago.

Fortunately, it seemed to have worked, as I could see nearby heroes heading in that direction, letting out a sigh of relief.

This time I was managing to adapt on the fly, but I thought I would soon hit my limit.

Running while chased was far more exhausting than I had anticipated.

My body felt fine, but the mental strain was unbearable.

Then suddenly, such a thought crossed my mind.

What if I could break through one side of the encirclement? Wouldn’t I be able to escape?

But I shook my head and dismissed that thought.

Even though I was the one being pursued, I didn’t want to harm anyone just to save myself.

Well, somehow it should be fine. Somehow…

Muttering to myself, I tried to slip through a moment of opening before the heroes turned to chase the opposite direction when…

“…Found you.”

A voice came from behind.

Normally, in that situation, I would have dashed off without looking back, but…

Since it was a familiar voice, I found myself stopping and turning to look.

And there she was,

“…Jessie.”

“…Scarlet.”

My small friend was standing there with crazed eyes.